AN elderly woman is fighting for her life after being found unconscious in her smoke logged Horwich flat by a neighbour who was alerted by a fire alarm.

And after a second separate blaze in Bolton another elderly woman lay helpless on her kitchen floor for an hour and a half as the room filled with smoke from a burning pan. She was saved by her council Careline system. In the first incident last night, Mrs Irene Greenhalgh, aged 76, was found on the settee in her downstairs flat at Claypool Road, Horwich, by neighbour Mrs Ethel Cookson who was alerted by a smoke detector. It is thought that she had suffered a heart attack.

She was taken by ambulance to the Royal Bolton Hospital, but later transferred to Chorley, where her condition earlier today was described as "critical".

In the second incident, which happened in a sheltered bungalow in The Haulgh area of Bolton also last night, disabled Miss Joan Cumberbirch was saved by the council's Careline system.

Miss Cumberbirch fell shortly after putting a pan of stew onto her cooker to heat for dinner. She lay unable to get back onto her feet, but eventually managed to crawl across to the cooker, turn off a flaming pan of stew and then grab her Careline system cord.

Today Miss Cumberbirch, a 79-year-old pensioner, praised the system, which led to firemen reaching her in minutes, breaking in the front door and carrying her to safety.

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